February Project of the Month

Every month we will be posting a new project on our blog. February’s project is making the perfect dinner plate. Ordinary these posts will go up during the first week of the month; but, since this is the first video I am putting it up early.

Please Post Comments:

If you have some additional tips or questions please post theme here. This blog is a great way for all of us to help each other become better potters.

Project of the Month Contest

Enter dinner plates you make during February (or late January) and win the all new BHC t-shirt. These shirts are so new that they have not even been printed yet. In fact, the design has not been completed. But, don’t worry they will be cool and you could definitely win one.

Entries must be made by March 12. You must enter a least 2 dinner plates

Plates will be judged by the following criteria:

Overall Craftsmanship

Usability — do they stack, fit in a dishwasher and standard kitchen cabinet

Plates that come with a New Your Strip steak (medium rare please), baked potato and grilled asparagus will receive great consideration :).

to “February Project of the Month”

Thanks, Joanne! This was great… Still watching the video… but had to comment before I forgot. *** I need one of those shrink rulers *** Can I order one on your website? or can I send you a check? I will give you my website address once I get it up and running, but for now I have some of my latest work posted on picasa web..

I have been carrying on with the pottery and have learned a lot since I left California… I was just about to give plate making a try… now I will feel a bit more confident. Thanks, again.
Kris

I push out toward 10 o’clock because:
1 it allows me to better see the base I am creating
2 there is a tendancy if you pull to the right to go ‘deeper’ as you get toward the edge and then it is harder to get a level base- crucial to a good plate.

When you start making plates start by using about 2.5 to 3 pounds of clay – make some salad plates to get the technique down.

Joanne, it was soooo fun to watch you throw again. AND to bolster my confidence in myself in knowing that I was taught by the master (you) how to throw a plate! Time to get back to throwing plates. Contest sounds like a great idea.
Fabulous website. Love having the videos to instruct us before we get there to the studio!

Some things I forgot to mention on the plate video:
1- I always make two plates and dry them ‘rim to rim’ even if they are not exactly the same size (put wider on the bottom). This will make sure they dry flat and dry more slowly.
2- The base of the plate, after opening, should be no more than 3/8 inch, trim to 1/4 inch
3- when you wire plates or any wide piece use the ‘pendulum’ method. Instead of pulling the wire toward you with both toggle handles, use your left hand and anchor one end of the wire at ’10 o clock’ on the edge of the bat and pull the right hand around and to the left- clockwise- this will keep the wire much ‘flatter’ and prevent it rising up in the middle as it come through the base. It also helps to use your stick tool to undercut the bottom outer edge of the plate before wiring – gets the wire started flat and low.

This is great, Joanne! You’re such a good teacher! Opening the floor of the plate with the left hand using a thumb guide was an A-HA moment for me. Another advantage of that technique is a more even floor and no bump in the center. Dave’s camera work was excellent!

After the Holiday production push, I took the month of January off from clay. But your video has inspired me; I picked up a bunch of clay from Clay Planet today and will work the wheel tomorrow. I still need to make those yogurt bowls. 🙂

This is exciting to see your demonstration video, and I look forward to seeing more.

Thanks for the helpful video! I’ve tried throwing plates off and on with limited success. After watching the video the plates I threw were a whole lot closer to being decent plates! Opening to 10 o’clock – works beautifully.

Nice to see you’re sharing all your years of pottery experience with everyone. I’m sure it will help many beginning and intermedia pottery students learn new skills. I look forward to seeing your other monthly posts.